Israeli startups push crowdfunding as investment in Israel

New funding platforms and high-profile success stories of Israeli technology companies are fueling the growth of small-scale investments by Zionist Jews seeking to help Israeli startups by reaching for their wallets and phone books. Funding platforms like OurCrowd and iAngels — which require relatively low minimum investments and supply easy access to pre-vetted Israeli startups — are making Israeli industry much more accessible to Jews outside Israel.

Sammy Rubin, an insurance entrepreneur from London, invested in Israeli startups through OurCrowd. His portfolio includes NextPeer, a gaming company that has been bought, and FreightOS, a shipping management service. Rubin told Al-Monitor that OurCrowd's investment platform lets him “participate in the Israel story, which has turned in the last few years into a high-tech story.”

Rubin explained, “When I was younger, supporting Israel was a choice between Zionism and business. But in the last few years, for me personally, these are not in conflict anymore. I can do business and invest money, and I can also participate in the Zionist enterprise.”

Investments in startups collected through the new funding platforms are no longer marginal, said Koby Simana, the CEO of the IVC Research Center, an Israel-based market research company. According to Simana, out of the $4.8 billion invested in Israeli technology companies in 2016, 2-4% was invested through such platforms. That the investments go to early-stage companies, where institutional investment is scarce, increases their significance.